"the dark book of the beginning"

My car WOULD choose the coldest days of the year to run out of antifreeze again. Katie said it was 15 degrees last night, and I believe her. It's the kind of weather when you walk outside and your hands instantly freeze. INSTANTLY. You walk inside 20 minutes later and realize you also can't feel your ears or nose.

At nearly 650 posts, it seems a shame to stop making blog posts now. I may put the blog into rehabilitation, though. Like a movie star. Except without drugs.

Maybe I'll do that thing where people post recipes. Greg and I have this thing called the Guide to Culinary Awesome. Mostly it's what happens when we modify recipes or fly by the seat of our pants and come up with something ridiculously awesome all on our own. Last night's adventure? Sword fish and rice!: Take 2 swordfish steaks of about 1/2 lb. each and brush with a white wine and olive oil mixture. Place in a baking pan of some kind. Cut up a tomato, some onion, and a lemon, and put all that stuff on top of the swordfish. Broil it for about half an hour, flipping the fish over halfway through (like any fish, you've just got to make sure that it's no longer clear in the center). Mmmm. . . . While that's broiling, make some rice. But add jasmine tea to the water when you're making it. It's delicious just like this, with a hint of jasmine flavor, but if you also sprinkle with lemon pepper to taste, it's UBER-AMAZING.

And that whole meal? Literally it took only 45 minutes from prep to ready meal. That's what I'm talkin' about! Someday we need to try that on a grill -- maybe having marinated the meat beforehand.

Dang, now I'm super hungry.

And super disappointed that J-term, with its opportunities to cook, is going to be over in such a short time. AAAGGGHHH! Where did that time GO?!

Ooh, check it out: my Jesus College blog contains new content. At the end is a funny vignette about me as a youngster.

Ooh, and I met with Professor Perrin today for breakfast -- so much fun! I love that woman. I love talking to her about anything and everything. She also made contact with a family I could live with this summer. Apparently an uber-amazing homeschool family, who would be interested in having me become a part of their lives. I'm kind of excited, actually. Very excited. I've just got to be a grown-up and contact them in a timely manner. We'll arrange to meet together and then re-evaluate whether we feel like we'd be a good fit for a couple months of co-habitation.

A few people actually really liked the Rilke poem I posted last time, so here's another one for your contemplation:

THE ANGELS

They all have tired mouths
and bright seamless souls.
And a longing (as for sin)
sometimes haunts their dream.

They are almost all alike;
in God's gardens they keep still,
like many, many intervals
in his might and melody.

Only when they spread their wings
are they wakers of a wind:
as if God with his broad sculptor-
hands leafed through the pages
in the dark book of the beginning.